ATTENTION AMERICA: ARE YOU NOT GETTING PROPERLY PAID ON YOUR INSURANCE CLAIM BY AN INSURANCE COMPANY? Do you ever get the feeling that the will of the American People and your best interests are being denied by those powerful few at the top? Nowhere is this more evident and illustrated repeatedly each day than in the insurance industry by the illegal actions of bad faith insurance companies! Bad faith insurance companies today employ the common and pervasive use of fraudulent deceptive practices to intentionally and illegally deny and/or withhold proper payment of policyholders legitimate claims. Simply, they do this in order to increase their company's profits and incentive for their own personal gains. Many bad faith insurance companies and their lawyers in addition knowingly victimize, use harassment, abusive, squeeze, stall and deny tactics as standard operating procedure to intentionally increase and add overwhelming hardships upon claimants, ultimately with the intent of rendering claimants weak and powerless, and many penniless, adversely affecting, devastating and ruining many hundreds of thousands upwards to as many as a million or more lives of claimants, innocent insureds and/or family members each year, all with the intention and objective of getting these claimants) to go away without collecting on their claim. These bad faith insurers and their deliberate despicable and ruthless actions have the devastating effect of leaving claimants destitute, homeless and/or either ending their lives or ruining their lives as they knew it forever. Such bad faith insurers actions are commonplace and happening more and more each day such that chances are good that it will happen to you, a family member and/or someone you know.

You don't believe or think that bad faith insurance will happen to you? Well, you are very wrong ... Just like those that we hear from everyday, some rich but mostly poor and middle class, that tell us "they didn't think it could happen to them! Bad faith insurance generally targets the greatest number of people, the poor and middle class and those least able to fight back, such as seniors and the elderly. That's because there are just more of them. We now know for certainty that the rich are just as likely to be the targets of breach of contract and bad faith insurance companies. Here's but one example for you to consider of how easily it could happen to you: that its not so much that if you are in a serious motor vehicle accident that its going to be your fault. To the contrary, the person at fault may most likely be the other person and chances are likely that they are insured by an FBIC high ranked bad faith insurer! Hartford, Allstate and State Farm insurance companies are rated the #1, #2 and #3 U.S. Worst Bad Faith Insurers!* State Farm (the U.S. largest auto insurer), Allstate and Hartford collectively insure upwards of some 50-60% of all automobiles in the U.S. today ... Add to that other bad faith large insurers (e.g. Farmers, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Progressive, etc.), chances are extremely good that the possibility and likelihood of this happening to you is some 70-75%. Don't let bad faith insurance happen to you or to your family! To your benefit and the benefit of your family and all Americans, we ask that you join FBIC America's buy good faith and boycott bad faith insurers Hartford, Allstate and State Farm and demand that they (and other bad faith insurers) immediately stop their illegal bad faith insurance claim practices ways, cease their predatory illegal bad faith insurance actions and our country's greatest crimes and abuses against the American People! (Attention: FBIC are not lawyers. If you are a claimant and/or an insured in need of legal help and are looking for a lawyer to advise or represent you or your family's interests, use our online website Find-A-Lawyer Directory ... Its free for claimants, consumers and businesses.)

BAD FAITH INSURANCE COMPLAINTS AND BAD FAITH INSURANCE CLAIMS PRACTICES.  Outraged about being wrongfully denied or being underpaid on an insurance claim for which you paid premiums? (If "No", then most likely you have not had an insurance claim recently ... but beware that when you do, chances are that you too will most likely have this unfortunate and common experience of today happen to you.) If "Yes", then join with the many hundreds of thousands or millions of fellow Americans and rapidly growing number in the more recent past few years who have experienced what is commonly known in the Insurance Industry as "Bad Faith Insurance".

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE POLICYHOLDERS BAD-FAITH RELATED COMPLAINTS, SIGNS OF BAD FAITH INSURANCE AND BAD FAITH INSURANCE CLAIMS PRACTICES? Bad things happen to innocent people who are the victims. Natural disasters occur, hurricanes and floods devastate areas and properties, buildings are impacted and houses burn or develop life-threatening infectious mold, airplanes and buses crash, trains collide, communities are rioted, crime-ridden and devastated, motor vehicle and automobile accidents kill and cause permanent disabilities to hundreds of thousands of victims every year, products malfunction and cause serious harm, people and children are exposed to toxins and dangerous chemicals are consumed unknowingly, workers are seriously hurt on the job, personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death occurrences are a common part of everyday life, and you suffer a catastrophic loss. We know from the many thousands of bad faith related complaints that bad faith insurers often use every possible device, ploy and tactic available to them to delay, deny, or discount claims whenever they can, even engaging in breach of contract and bad faith insurance claims settlement practices. In addition, large insurance companies, consumed with cost-cutting and increasing profits impose unfair restrictive guidelines on their claims adjusters making it near impossible to properly process a claim in a fair and timely manner.

The following are some examples of bad faith related complaints, indicators of bad faith insurance claims settlement practices and a few of the signs that may be indicative to make you aware that you are or may be dealing with a bad faith insurer. The following have been identified from policyholder complaints and compiled as some of the potential signs of bad faith insurance claim settlement practices. These signs are not meant to be offered as legal advice nor should be construed as legal advice. FBIC is an educational consumer advocacy as well as a media resource that specializes in identifying and ranking good and bad (faith) insurers based on their willingness to pay claims and their good faith and bad faith insurance claims settlement practices.  FBIC is neither a court of law nor legal counsel, so accordingly nothing indicated herein should be taken or construed as legal advice. In order to establish whether an insurer is in violation of "Bad Faith" insurance laws, "Unfair or Deceptive Insurance Claim Settlement Acts Or Practices" laws and/or is not acting in good faith must be decided and is determinable only by a court of law according to the specifics of the case, the court's applicable interpretation of statutes and case laws which may vary by state. When questioning or in doubt consult your state's bad faith insurance claims settlement practices and other pertinent statutes, case laws and key applicable court interpretations ... and most importantly, if you feel your insurer may be guilty of bad faith, unfair claims settlement practices and/or other pertinent illegal insurance practices and you feel you require legal advice, you should seek legal counsel from a licensed attorney admitted to the BAR and in good standing in your state or jurisdiction who is knowledgeable and familiar with the issues raised. (Click here to read FBIC's "Legal Disclaimer and Copyright".)  As indicated and subject to a court's specific findings in each case and state, click on the following link to view:

FBIC (FIGHT BAD-FAITH INSURANCE COMPANIES).   FBIC, founded in 1997, is a tax exempt non-profit, public interest consumer advocacy organization and educational media resource that specializes in identifying and ranking good and bad insurers based on policyholders bad faith related complaints, the company's good faith and bad faith insurance practices. FBIC educates, informs and helps consumers and businesses to fight back against bad faith insurers that deny and/or withhold proper payment of Policyholders and Claimants legitimate claims. In addition, FBIC works with the media and press in researching, investigating and uncovering today's rapidly growing fraudulent multi-billion dollar bad faith non-payment of claims rip-offs by the powerful Insurance Industry's bad faith insurers. FBIC recognizes that in order to stop bad faith insurers from intentionally committing bad faith as a common practice against the American People, requires change and attention to three areas which include legislative, judicial and that which FBIC believes to be the most important and powerful of all, the American People, empowering consumers not to buy insurance from bad faith insurers. Legislatively, FBIC feels that the laws need to be changed to be made fair and equitable for both insureds and insurers, however the powerful are the first to admit behind closed doors that laws are meant to be broken and that the laws are there for the little guys ... so changing the laws may/will help but probably not very much especially if the change is meant to be just for viewing by the Public. Judicially, the courts probably won't get any closer in helping to level the playing field in bad faith insurance complaint cases between insurers and insureds in the next two hundred years than they have in the past two hundred years. FBIC knows that the key to real change lies with the success of the FBIC Citizens Action Movement and the continuing support of the American People.

There are three key elements to buying insurance: (1) Price (2) Insurer financial strength aka Solvency (3) Whether the insurer pays its claims promptly and properly in good faith or instead willingly (aka intentionally) denies payment of claims promptly and/or properly in bad faith, an area of expertise that is exclusive to FBIC. Consumers should consult insurers or their agents for a price quote, reference the appropriate financial reporting agencies for insurers financial strength and solvency information (Note: FBIC finds the available information provided by these agencies seriously flawed as it has been indicated that these financial ratings agencies are highly conflicted as they are alleged to be bought and paid for by the insurers who pay the financial rating agencies to establish and report their ratings from information not only supplied them by the insurers but who also pay the agencies to establish and report the insurer’s rating. According to the rules and regulations of the industry, if the insurer is not happy or satisfied with the first agency’s report and rating, it has the option to suppress its publication and go elsewhere to have a second financial rating agency report and rating done. In addition, it has been alleged that there is one agency that financially rates insurers that is not paid by insurers, that is Weiss Ratings, out of a total of approximately four or five widely used financial rating agencies that are paid by insurers to rate them, which include A.M. Best, Fitch, Moody's and S&P (aka Standard & Poors). A 1995 study by the GAO indicated that Weiss and Moody’s assigned insurers fewer top ratings out of the five agencies providing the service. FYI, FBIC is not associated with these agencies and assumes no responsibility for these agencies insurers financial ratings or any other insurer ratings.

FBIC is a nationally recognized non-profit consumer advocacy and educational media resource organization which researches, compiles and utilizes extensive data to be able to identify and rank insurers according to their good faith practices and willingness to properly pay claims vs. bad faith insurers which 'willingly' delay, discount or deny payment of claims. FBIC is the only organization and source to nationally rank and rate insurance companies based on the insurers good faith or bad faith practices, their record in paying claims and paying them properly, which includes insurers bad faith non-payment of claims records, consumer complaints and related improper actions against policyholders and claimants. FBIC receives no compensation from insurers for providing this service. FBIC is supported by donations from the public.

FYI, there are in excess of 40 private industry associations and organizations nationwide representing insurance companies most in the name of fighting consumer fraud perpetrated against insurance companies. State government DOIs (Departments of Insurance) are in charge and supposed to be regulating and monitoring insurers practices actions but none to our knowledge have ever intervened and/or acted against an insurer for their bad faith actions to protect their state’s citizens and consumers. In other words and in the history of states insurance regulation, no DOI to our knowledge has ever individually or collectively looked at and connected the dots of each consumers bad faith complaints against each of the bad faith insurers. So what Americans are left with is a situation where both good and bad faith insurers are left to self-police their companies and industry’s bad faith related complaints and actions. Well, you would think by now that with all of the illegal actions and corruption of businesses, mutual funds, and elsewhere by those in power uncovered on Wall Street, one might think that those in charge, in power or in authority in the state legislature, regulatory authorities and those charged with oversight would investigate, but in this case there is no one doing the job. There is however one organization (and only one to our knowledge) helping educate policyholders and assisting claimants in fighting back against the pervasive illegal actions and practices of bad faith insurance companies and their breach of contract and bad faith claim settlement practices, and that organization is "FBIC". As FBIC is supported by donations from the public, we ask for your donation and contribution which makes it possible for FBIC to continue to make great strides at educating and stopping bad faith insurers from victimizing the American People.

YOUR STATE DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE (DOI) ... FRIEND OR FOE? (Part 1)  Each state has a DOI (Department Of Insurance) whose responsibility is to regulate insurance companies practices within their state, to make sure insurers are financially solvent and stay within the state's laws and "are supposed" to protect its citizens from bad faith insurers and when insurers break the law. So, with state government DOI (Department Of Insurance) Agency oversight, how do insurance companies get away with unfair and bad faith claim settlement practices and not paying legitimate claims? This is commonly and routinely done by bad faith insurers claiming to the DOI that they are investigating the facts in the matter when in many cases they are not (generally, there is no time limitations attached to insurer alleged investigations esp. when it comes to matters of fact or factual matters) ... also by stalling, distorting the truth, use of deception and diversion tactics, and denying, denying, denying. In legal terms these actions are collectively referred to as "Unfair and Deceptive Claim Settlement Practices".

Sometimes the DOI will follow-up on a complaint and call the insurer to get an explanation as to the complaint. When a bad faith insurer gets such a call, generally all they want to do in order to get off the hook when the DOI makes an inquiry (usually that amounts to a telephone call to the insurer's administrator handling the case), bad faith insurers can easily claim they are investigating the matter (when they are not), stretch the truths by indicating and claiming one thing and then illegally do something else or just the opposite. Knowing that there is no properly staffed state governmental agency armed with the incentive and necessary essentials seriously investigating and looking into these practices, there is nothing to stop bad faith insurers which easily take advantage. Furthermore, as a result of investigations initiated by the NY State Attorney General into widespread corruption and fraud by many moreso larger insurers in late 2004 and spreading nationwide, it has come out and been found that many of the country's larger insurers have just repeatedly outright lied in the past to state Department of insurance commissions, both verbally and in writing ... and in most cases involving consumer complaints sided with the insurer which is generally their usual style. Generally, the state DOI Department is way understaffed. Generally they may get to investigate 10-13% of claimants complaints which usually at best involves a phone call from the state Examiner to the insurer asking a question about the case or claim. The insurer responds, the DOI gives the benefit of any doubt to the insurer over the claimant and takes the word of the insurer generally resulting in making a note in the file which usually settles and satisfies the examiners inquiry most any question and in one minute or less closes the file.

Believing that the state governmental DOI agency has investigators (which generally they don't) or examiners seriously investigating and looking into the insurers practices is a joke, and the insurers know it and there is nothing to stop bad faith insurers which easily take advantage. In such cases, the insurer may indicate any number of responses to the DOI examiner that: (1) they are denying the claim for any reason that they feel is best, or (2) the first reason that comes to mind right or wrong, that they know will work on getting the DOI off their back, or (3) they are investigating the claim. The first two reasons generally enables and allows the DOI and insurer to close the file on the claim, as each writes a note in his/her file even in spite of the claimant contesting that the reason is completely bogus and/or has nothing to do with the case. In this case, the examiner usually says well you better speak directly with the insurer as we are closing the file and generally when the claimant speaks with the insurer, the insurer might indicate something completely different or indicate repeatedly they have not received the paperwork, one of their most frequently used and popular reasons at some point or another in many if not most all cases. The complaints are marked as unjustified and/or closed by the DOIs and the insurer(s). In this manner, some 10-13% of the total complaints in as many cases are classified as investigated by the DOI with most obviously indicated as unjustified by their computer records. Generally, even though the examiners know which insurers are offering mostly to underpay and those insurers that are denying most of the brunt of the number of complaints involving claims exceeding $1,000 to $15,000, depending upon the insurer, even if there were 5,000 claims consecutively denied one after the other, it is generally agreed by experts and those in the know that no one at any state DOI has the incentive or makes any effort to connect the dots of insurers bad faith activities ... leaving this area wide-open to abuse. Generally, the basis of DOI individual complaint related claimant investigations is whatever the insurer says. Otherwise, the only way insurers get exposed and caught for their illegal and fraudulent claim practices is by complainants or Whistleblowers" working in combination with FBIC, an investigation by the Media and/or The Press.

The most shocking news and reality of it all, as supported by highly regarded experts and knowledgeable others in the industry along with some of the most well respected media and journalists quietly agree as it is well-known and no secret that DOIs are heavily conflicted and cannot do their jobs to protect consumers. DOI actions that occur on behalf and on the side of the consumer are rare if not non-existent in most if not all bad faith related complaints and insurance cases. The only related consumer complaints that ultimately get any attention by the DOI are those that address minor administrative infraction situations, otherwise DOI lack of actions ultimately sides against the consumer and in support of the insurer. See it for yourself. (In order to view any of the videos on this website, you will need Windows Media Player or Real Network RealOne Player installed on your computer. To download the latest FREE version of Windows Media Player click here or to download the latest FREE version of RealOne Player click here).   To view the following investigative video by NBC Dateline called "Dangerous Liaisons" revealing the behind the scenes covert dealings of former California Department Of Insurance (DOI) Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush with six major insurers regarding California's 1994 Northridge earthquake victims who to this day because of these illicit dealings many claimants have yet to be properly compensated, click here.   The video exposes just the kind of illicit dealings and deceptive anti-consumer actions that are purported to be common and that have gone on behind the scenes between state insurance commissioners and the insurance companies they are supposed to be regulating on behalf of their citizens, the very people they are there to protect and who are the victims of such illicit deals. One state, believed Louisiana, has had three consecutive former state Insurance Commissioners go to prison for getting caught doing illegal things related to their jobs.

SmartMoney Magazine published in its February 1999 edition an article which cites some of the real facts and truths about state DOI (Department Of Insurance) actions regarding claimants and insureds (who the DOI is supposed to protect), and insurers (which the DOI is supposed to regulate) entitled "10 Things Your Insurer Won't Tell You", which cites:

BAD FAITH RELATED COMPLAINTS AND BAD FAITH INSURERS TRANSCEND ALL LINES OF INSURANCE ... THAT INCLUDES HEALTH, LIFE AND DISABILITY INSURANCE TOO ... BIG TIME. The media, primarily network television (along with a few newspapers), have exposed some of the growing number of bad faith insurance occurrences, many of which are highlighted by cases within our country's predominantly insurance based managed healthcare system. These exposés take many months if not several years to investigate and produce. In the investigation confirmed by video, even after the insurer is found to be guilty as judged by any reasonable person and caught dead to rights with their pants down, bad faith insurers under no circumstances admit to guilt even though you have seen it happen with your own two eyes. The same holds true for Court cases and trials where the bad faith insurer is found guilty. No matter how damning and overwhelming the evidence and the findings, the bad faith insurer still swears to their innocence ... and refuses to accept guilt insisting that everyone (even their own employees) were misjudged and/or misunderstood.

If you haven't read in between the lines yet, research indicates (and it should come of no surprise) that bad faith insurers (and their lawyers) are highly vindictive and vengeful. It is repeatedly proven that bad faith insurers, when confronting a policyholder with a claim in many or most cases these days, turn viciously adversarial and are well known to engage in a bitter fight as necessary to the end during which time they utilize the most unconscionable tactics and limitless resources available to them to do whatever is necessary to get the claimant to go away without being properly compensated on their claim for the insurance coverage for which they paid their premiums ... in doing so the bad faith insurer hopes to be spared from having to payout on a (legitimate) claim while their attorney maximizes their firm's highly paid billing hours. It is proven that bad faith insurers and their defense attorneys are bullies of the worst kind as are well known by claimants, their victims ... and accordingly will stop short of nothing, exercise no constraint, spare no abuse, utilize the extreme powers available to them to overpower and spare no expense in crushing the smallest of adversaries (similar in proportion to that of an NFL championship professional football team beating their chests in playing against an elementary school 1st grade football team and playing as if they were in the superbowl or better yet as described by some claimants as nothing short of murder or that of a serial killer).

Responsibility and accountability for bad faith insurers treachery, lies, deceptions and actions must start at the very top with senior-most management bearing the brunt of the blame for his company. But FBIC has found and learned through the years that in many cases it is not the President or senior-most management of the larger bad faith insurers that is always to blame. On the contrary many if not most of the time, it is middle management and the everyday operational lines people and staff that is to blame. What FBIC has found and identified is that bad faith insurers are notoriously cheap and accordingly much of the time hire under-educated and untrained workers without high school diplomas or a G.E.D. to understand and administer complaints. For the most part, these individuals have no formal education and are uneducated and untrained as to processing insurance claims for example ... and their positions in general are that of a used car salesperson (nothing disparaging intended against used car salespeople, except that this is not the type of individuals that should be charged and responsible for peoples lives). To make matters worse, these staffers are hired and immediately put in a claims processing or related position without any or minimal adequate training. Bad faith insurers make no investment to have and send them to a college or institute of insurance management. (In older days gone by, we have slight recollection as to Lloyds of London and Zurich having such schools for their employees to be trained). This is without a doubt the primary problematic area especially associated with bad faith insurers that is endemic to the entire insurance industry. Having identified this problematic area, we have also found that every bad faith insurance company case/claims manager should be criminally charged with violations of the RICO Act as they continue on an ongoing purposeful direction to exhibit repeated acts of criminal behavior which is also the truest form of domestic terrorism that this country has ever seen.

For those having difficulties dealing with bad faith insurers, it is important for consumers to know that an experienced and good "plaintiff insurance trial attorney" can usually handle the rough play ... and the best part, these trial lawyers specializing in plaintiff insurance cases work on a contingency basis meaning it only costs you a percentage of the claim and/or award if they win for you.) Our best guess is that this rough play is what bad faith insurance companies that repeatedly commit breach of contract and fraud and consistently break the law believe they have to do to hopefully get you to go away and for them not to get caught. Then again what first-graders lack in power, they make up for in energy, pure candor, creative thinking and then some. So, the FBIC America Movement on behalf of all Americans says let's play the game and beat the bad (faith) boys our own way and win: FBIC asks that you and all Americans buy good faith and boycott bad faith insurers.

The bad faith nature of insurance cases happens to upwards of tens to hundreds of thousands of Americans each day in healthcare alone. They occur mostly when health insureds go to the hospital, when they go for an office visit with their doctor and/or pick up a prescription at their pharmacy and are denied payment for a covered procedure and/or prescription(s) for various reasons (i.e. an outright computerized denial for payment as not covered for various reasons, or possibly just that the insurers computers are down or not working which means that the only way the patient will be able to pick up the medication is by paying for it. (Do you know how much money an insurer can save by their computers being down for a day or hours ... its in the millions). Another example is when an insured is made to pay a higher co-pay than they are aware their policy calls for. The list goes on and on. If you don't already know as an insured, ask your doctor or pharmacist how many times a day this occurs to their patients. In some cases this may be the result of a confusing and complicated system advocated and intentionally setup by insurers to confuse consumers and are part and parcel of bad faith insurance. (FYI, insurers oppose any standardization of their system and industry.) Even with legislation to try to correct a part of the situation or system , many/most if not all insurers fail to comply with the new legislation. This is bad faith insurance.

Next, bad faith insurance almost invariably happens again when the insured gets their bill from the hospital and/or from their doctor's office showing examinations and procedures as being denied and not paid for by the insurance company. Again, this is bad faith insurance. (e.g. The longer the insurer has the use of the insureds money for investment purposes, called "the float", the more money the insurer makes and the greater its profits). Whether it involves the pharmacy where you get your meds, your doctor's office or emergency room visit or stay at a hospital, it takes someone with time and great fortitude to go back and forth many times between the insurer, the pharmacist, the doctor's office and/or hospital administrator before the claim(s) are paid (that is if you are lucky and the claims ever gets paid at all). You don't believe it? Again, then ask your doctor, pharmacist or hospital administrator how many times a day this occurs. Again, this is bad faith insurance.

Again and again, we see the same stall-starve-deny-deny and stall-stall, starve-starve and deny-deny-deny-deny tactics repeated over and over again. These are all forms of bad faith insurance which are no different than the bad faith insurance employed with Life, Homeowners, Auto, Disability, Workers Compensation or Property & Casualty lines of insurance, etc. ... it is merely an extension of how bad faith insurers operate in general. Whether it be out of disgust, frustration, concern for your credit rating or fear of collection legal action being taken against you, paying these denied or unpaid claims yourself merely rewards bad faith insurers especially as this is exactly what they want you to do. And if you think any "Patients Bill of Rights" will prevent such bad faith occurrences, you are wrong ... they will simply continue on because no laws can prevent bad faith insurance from happening when the bad faith insurer intentionally, unscrupulously and repeatedly utilizes their illegal stalling, distorting of the truth, diversion, deception, starving-out and denying tactics in order to avoid paying claims and improve their bottom line profits. Whether they blame it on their system or not and get away with it, the truth of the matter is, is that it is bad faith insurance. FYI, bad faith insurance companies operate in the same illegal and deceptive ways across all lines of insurance including and not limited to Life, Health And Disability insurance lines, along with Auto, Homeowner, Property & Casualty And Workers Compensation insurance lines, etc. and they number amongst the largest companies and most powerful institutions in our United States.

Bad faith insurers are sending a clear message to insureds not to submit a claim and that if you submit a claim, you will pay severe consequences ... if your claim gets paid, your insurer will either cancel you or if you are lucky increase your premium 500% even if you have never had a claim before. No area of insurance hits closer to home and the tone of this message than in the arena of homeowner insurance in both large and small claims. Click here to view an "Eye On America Investigation" report by CBS News regarding an example of one such insured who made a claim on his homeowners policy to his insurer, State Farm, the price that was paid and result for making a claim and also exposes the little known about and secretive insurance industry C.L.U.E. system. FYI, the C.L.U.E. (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange) personal auto and homeowner insurance database system details for all Property & Casualty insurers the past insurance automobile and homeowner claims filed by all consumers and provides information about related claims filed on their policies. Many of those who are privy to the system contend that there are many information mistakes of a substantive nature in the C.L.U.E. system as there are in consumers credit reports. We also have another bad faith insurer video exposé in the homeowner insurance claim's arena. Recently, toxic mold claims have been given special attention and in some cases taken front stage for all insurers but moreso for bad faith insurers who want to avoid and not pay toxic mold homeowner claims not only because of the magnitude of the claim and financial expense that can be incurred in coverage but also because of the devastation that toxic mold can wreak on the health of the homeowner and its residents. Click here to view an investigative exposé called "Breaking The Mold" by CourtTV on the bad faith insurance claim response by Farmers Insurance to a homeowner policyholder and toxic mold claimant.

POLICYHOLDERS COMPLAINTS OF LIFE INSURANCE & ANNUITIES COMPANIES FRAUDULENT PRACTICES ... MUCH MORE COMMON THAN YOU WOULD EXPECT. It is cited by experts and confirmed by the media that "Life Insurance" fraud and misrepresentation is a huge and very real problem in America. Although hard to believe but certainly borne out in part by the ensuing events, a team of life insurance fraud experts in 1997 estimated that no less than 40% of all life insurance policies written since 1983 would not perform as promised at the time of sale. Furthermore, estimates are that 3 out of every 5 policies sold in the United States between 1980 and 1994 have potentially been sold under false pretenses. It has been claimed that "40 percent of life insurance sales people are somewhat less than honest or would steal your last dime … the remaining 59% are loyal, ethical, honest, caring professionals who would not harm anyone in any way, shape, or form. Unfortunately, if this majority were to be presented with a case of fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit against theirs or any other insurance company, they will turn their head and do nothing about it. They take no personal interest in these situations and delegate their fiduciary responsibility to lawyers, State Dept. of Insurance investigators or the companies themselves (FBIC Note: Don't expect them to do anything to resolve the matter esp. if it concerns $$$$. Ultimately and most likely you will need a lawyer to help settle any disputes you might have with your insurance company).

There is no doubt that when it comes to life insurance and financial planning, knowledgeable, honest agents representing quality companies are very important. Unfortunately, many people have discovered too late that their best interest was not given a high priority by their insurance agent." Before we delve further into any wrongdoings, let's review a little history to bring the most common fraudulent life insurance companies practices into better perspective

Many people remember that in the 1950's it was quite common for insurance agents to go the homes of life insurance policyholders each month to collect premiums. These Debit Agents, often the only link between insurance companies and policy owners, collected premiums as low as 12 to 15 cents per month. These agents were commonly treated like part of the family and were welcomed at Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations. When new babies were born, these "family members" would often bring groceries, gifts, and financial aid to the new mother and child. When the newborn was old enough, the agent would be there to sell the parents a new policy on its life and so-forth and so-on. It was not at all uncommon for the insurance agent to be named as the baby's godfather or even have it named after him. As the child grew, so too would the size of the policy. A $500 policy might at some point become a $2,500 policy and later on have its face value increased to $10,000 or $15,000. By the time a youngster reached 18 years of age, his/her policy may have been "rewritten" numerous times.

When modifying existing policies, insurance agents would often take a policy's existing equity or cash value and "roll it over" into another policy sometimes increasing the death benefit substantially. Using an in-force policy's cash value in this way would sometimes offset a new policy's premium so that it would remain level for quite some time.

Beginning in the late 70s, huge numbers of these policies were converted to a plan called Universal or Flexible Premium Life. While only similar to Whole or Traditional Life, a Universal policy is basically a Term plan with a savings account built into it. If, for example, the policyholder made their monthly premium payment of $70, $10 would be automatically applied to cover the cost of the premium and the additional $60 would be placed into an interest bearing savings account that paid as much as 11% interest in the 1980s. As the policy owner grew older, the internal cost of insurance would increase. Statistically speaking, "the older you get – the closer you get to death". This can be easily understood when one considers the cost of insuring a 60 year-old person versus an 18 year-old. The 60 year-old is closer to death, therefore the risk and/or cost of insuring the older person will be greater. As the years passed, the internal cost of insurance would increase automatically from $10 to $20, $30, $40, $50 and continue upwards. In order to offset these huge costs of insurance later in life, policyholders overpaid heavily in the beginning so that the savings could offset the cost increases later in life. Although designed to keep the policy "alive" until needed, agents would sometimes represent that this money could be withdrawn at any time, for mortgage completion, college education, retirement income or any number of other reasons.

With Whole Life or Term policies, the insurance companies were required by law to secure the policy cash value and subsequently were unable to invest the premiums. Needless to say, not being able to invest this huge amount of money bothered them greatly. Years later when the laws were changed and the insurance companies were no longer considered fiduciaries the question was asked, "How do these companies get their hands on all the cash held in these old policies?" The answer was an easy one. The insurance companies needed to simply give the names of the policy owners to the agents and instruct them to convert all this business over to Universal Life. Once this had been done, the insurance companies could invest all that money at its own discretion.

Insurers and agents advised policy holders with money in passbook savings accounts usually earning possibly only 2% at their local bank to "invest" some or all of this money into Flexible Premium Universal Life plans with the insurer. Here, they claimed, their money would earn 6, 8, or even 10% - sometimes even more. In many cases the policyholders were told they could withdraw money from these plans to supplement their retirement supplements, mortgage pay-off, second home, college funds, etc. Unfortunately, after doing exactly as their agent instructed, too many people in due time watched their policies destroy themselves and eventually lapse without value. Here's how the policies became worthless.

By design, the interest on the savings portion of a policy is used to offset the increasing cost of life insurance as the insured gets older. As a policyholder ages and the associated costs increase to the point where the costs exceeds the interest from savings, the insurer takes this excess cost out of the principal in the savings account. Hmmm? A number of years ago when the agent sold me the policy, the agent told me that I would have a paid up policy for the rest of my life. Where is the agent now? Let me call the company. "Oh, the agent is no longer with the company." "The agent never told me that if I didn't increase the amount of the premium that over time I would lose the cash value of my policy and eventually the policy would become worthless." 'Vanishing Premium' fraud is just that. It's when the agent sells a policy and the policyholder has no knowledge and is unaware that the policy could eventually lapse due to lack of premium. (More on vanishing premium fraud in a second).

Fraudulent Life Insurance Practices:

'Churning' is when agents use a misleading sales practice in which policyholders are persuaded to use the cash value in their older life insurance policy(s) to buy a newer one(s): (a) they don't necessarily need, and/or (b) by falsely contending that the new policies are cheaper or provided more coverage. Churning is illegal and is one of the most common claims of fraud made by life insurance victims.

'Vanishing premium' is an option that may allow a policy owner to stop paying premiums after a certain number of years. Vanishing premium fraud is when an agent: (a) because interest rates or dividends were so high, falsely promises the customer that the new policy(s) would pay for themselves in only 7 or 8 years, (b) falsely predicts to customers that the cash value in their policy will perform so well that they won't need to pay future premiums and/or can use it to pay for future premiums until the policy is paid up. This misrepresentation of a "vanishing premium" is illegal and another cause for action against insurers.

In 2000 the SEC cited 80 percent of life insurance companies for failure to follow regulations related to life insurance sales in the 80's and 90's. Of the infractions, 20 percent were serious enough to warrant further investigation and possible penalties.

John Stoia, a San Diego partner in the law firm of Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach, which handled numerous lawsuits and cases against many of the country's leading life insurers for improper and/or fraudulent churning and vanishing practices said, "There are in excess of 1,800 life-insurance companies in the country and the vast majority were engaged in this behavior through the 80's. The lawsuits generally contend that agents -- who stood to gain a lot in commissions when they sold new policies -- misled customers by telling them that if they replaced their old life insurance policies with new ones providing double-digit returns, they would get more coverage and the new policies would virtually pay for themselves. Some companies actually armed their agents with sales literature on vanishing premiums."

According to most of the suits, the agents didn't adequately explain that premiums for new policies would start higher simply because customers were older, or warn them that interest rates were likely to fall eventually, forcing up premiums.

Sales of the new and replacement policies hit a record year for insurers implicated in the scandal. But as time went by interest rates declined and legions of policyholders found themselves confronting higher premiums than they had ever imagined. Many people, unable to keep up the payments, let policies lapse and lost everything they had put into them.

Some every day examples of sales which beg questioning includes: (a) why would a man nearly seventy five years old pay almost $26,000 for a life insurance policy that would only last 6 or 7 years then lapse without any value while he was still alive? (b) why would a married couple in their late 60s with two perfectly good life insurance policies that have substantial cash values "roll over" them for new ones that would only last a few years before becoming worthless? (They would all have to die very soon in order for their policies to be any good.)

Prudential. In 1996, involving a class action suit against Prudential, the nation's largest life insurer, it was determined that 11.5 million potential fraud victim policyholders existed within that company alone. It was expected that Prudential would pay over $2.8 billion to settle class-action suits during the years 1983-1991. It was estimated that less than 10% of those victimized would actually be made whole by this class suit. Assuming another 5% will "opt out" or choose not to participate in the class, this leaves approximately 9 million people hanging onto policies that will never benefit anyone.

Metropolitan Life (Metlife). In August 1999, The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the nation's second-largest life insurer, agreed to pay $1.7 billion dollars to settle lawsuits and claims accusing the company of cheating an estimated 10.7 million policies sold to 9 million potential fraud victim customers through deceptive sales practices during the years 1982-1995.

Numerous other big names in the industry were also implicated in the fraudulent practices scheme affecting upwards of 50 million policyholder victims. Such big names (following in bold) along with other companies (not in bold) affecting policies and policyholders victims included New York Life with an estimated 7.5 million, John Hancock Mutual Life affecting an estimated 6.8 million and Guardian Life an estimated 5.5 million. Even though these and over 40 other different life insurers have been sued in recent years for similar practices, investigations, lawsuits and proof that some of these types of fraud have been committed, are still ongoing within these companies and continue to be found. Numerous cases against Prudential, MetLife, New York Life, Allstate and John Hancock have surfaced since reaching settlement. Fraudulent sales practices such as these also exist too within fraternal organizations like The Aid Association For Lutherans have also been found. Among the partial list of companies found caught up in such improper and/or fraudulent practices is a veritable "Who's Who" of life insurance. They include: The Aid Association For Lutherans, Allmerica Financial Services Inc. (fmrly State Mutual Life Assur.), American Express/IDS Life, American Family Life Insurance, American General Life & Accident Insurance Co., American Income Life, American United Life Insurance, Berkshire Mutual Life Insurance Co., CIGNA (Connecticut General) Life, Crown Life, Equitable Life (now AXA Equitable Life), Franklin Life Insurance Co., General American Life, Guardian Life Insurance Co., Great West Life, Hartford Life Insurance Co., Jefferson-Pilot Life Insurance Co., John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., Life Insurance Company of Virginia, LifeUSA, Manufacturers Life Insurance Co., Mass (Massachusetts) Mutual Life Insurance Co., Metropolitan Life (MetLife) Insurance Co., National Life (VT), New York Mutual (MONY) Life Insurance Co. of New York, Nationwide, New England Life Insurance Co., New York Life, Northwestern Mutual Life, Pacific Life, Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Co., Principal Mutual Life Insurance Co., Prudential Insurance Co. of America, State Farm Life Insurance Co., SunAmerica Inc., Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada US, Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Co.

Other Fraudulent Life Insurance Practices:

'Premium Misdirection' - You have a Universal Life policy from 10 years ago (with a substantial cash value higher than your premiums) and are paying a flexible premium of $100.00 a month. Your wife has a term policy from work. Your sales agent says you can lower the $100.00 per month premium on your policy and reduce it to $30. Then with the $70 a month amount saved you can use it to pay for a new life policy on your wife. Unfortunately, what you are not being told as time goes on and you get older, the cost of your policy increases and unless you increase the premium amount being paid, the cash value of your policy eventually or in short time will be depleted and go down to "0". At this point now that there is some cash value in your wife's policy that you purchased, you stop paying the $70 monthly premium payment being paid on your wife's policy and re-increase payment on your policy back to $100 monthly not realizing that the cost of your wife's policy also increases, depleting the cash value of your wife's policy down to "0" (unless you also increase the premium being paid on that policy as well). Ultimately, both policies are out of money.

'Piggy-backing' - is where an agent or you take the equity from one policy to buy another policy on the same person and over the course of say 10-20 years, this is being done for many policies.

'Forging' and 'Windowing' - is where an agent or you take a new service policy, forges one's signature from an old signature and in order to distort the forged signature 'faxes' it to the home office. Once you authorize with the agent to take the cash value of an existing policy(s), a dishonest agent is now able to scan your signature and do anything with it. (So you say your agent is honest do you? It is estimated that 60% of agents are not honest or not as honest as you expect them to be. Click here to read "Life Insurance: Never Trust A Salesman". )

How Could Such Widespread Life Insurance Fraud Have Happened?

The sales practices that may seem plausible on the surface herein lies the ongoing conflict of interest and battle of consumer vs. insurer when translated down to claims (i.e. bad faith claims), or in the case of life insurance claims or redemption where the policyholder ultimately finds their policy to be worth -0- or to be completely worthless. These cases just further go to illustrate the state Departments of Insurance and NAIC being in the pockets of the giant insurers as well as their duplicitous nature whereby when it comes to claims or life insurance policy redemption, as shown herein, the insurer generally wins out 99.9% of the time. In this case this event rated an "11" on a scale of 1-10 and was so enormous and egregious affecting almost everyone with a life insurance policy, more than 50 million Americans, that the regulatory authorities had no choice but to "cite the insurers infractions" and go on allowing the policyholders' to proceed with class actions and private court actions to redeem whatever they could.

Remember that insurers even as defendants use the courts to their benefit.

Adding insult to injury, as a result of the legal actions brought at the time, many of these actions resulted in policyholders receiving such things as coupons and the like to hopefully be able to redeem some of the value of the insurance policy(s) they had lost due to the fraudulent actions of those companies and agents involved. The ironic part is that due to the "rigged" remedies put in place to help make victims whole (they are rarely if ever made whole) and correct these illegal actions, life insurance companies ultimately sold more new policies in the year or two following the court actions than ever before in their history. Thanks to our states Departments of insurance and the NAIC and their hidden conflicts and agendas, the bottom line here is that insurers by their illegal actions in fact bring more money to their insurance companies and damage the policyholders. Subsequently, a small crop of former life insurance agents have become investigators for policyholders who expect or have found that they too have been scammed. If you know FBIC's credibility and the credibility of this website, then you know that all information on this website, (except for FBIC proprietary information), is documented, referenced and supported by reputable media and expert sources. To read further on the subject of life insurance frauds, click here to go directly to our "Library Reference Page Section on Life Insurance Fraud".

ANNUITY

Among the alleged even more abusive sales practices are those sellers of variable annuities many of which are the same as those found caught up in shady life insurance sales. The fraudulent and improper sales practices included the following:

'Churning' and 'Excessive Fees'. The unnecessary replacement of old variable annuities with new ones to create unnecessary commission payments and surrender fees.

'False Disclosures'. Failure to disclose investment risks or misrepresenting tax deferral benefits that can be achieved through variable annuity investments. Falsely touting variable annuity products of one company over identical products of another in order to generate commissions and surrender fees.

'Preferential and Unfair Customer Treatment'. Side agreements between the seller and certain large or favored investors to allow "market-timing" and "after hours trading" in which favored customers are allowed to rapidly buy and sell variable annuities, harming long-term investors who are not allowed to participate in the practice by diluting the profits they would otherwise receive and concentrating or increasing their losses.

'Unsuitable Sales Into Tax-Deferred Accounts'. The unsuitable investment or transfer of funds in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs, Keoghs, Rollovers, 401(k)s, profit sharing, and other qualified retirement plans, subjecting such investors to higher and additional classes of fees, as well as unnecessary termination costs and restrictions, and lower overall investment returns.

Policyholders were charged "exorbitant deferred annuity insurance fees" for a double tax deferral they cannot use.

To read further on the subject of annuity fraud, click here to go directly to our "Library Reference Page Section on Annuity Fraud".

LIFE INSURANCE UNCLAIMED POLICIES ... ARE BAD FAITH INSURERS WITHHOLDING HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF UNCLAIMED LIFE INSURANCE BENEFITS THAT THE PEOPLE AND STATE GOVERNMENTS ARE BEING CHEATED OUT OF?

There is over 400 billion dollars in unclaimed money in the United States held by banks, life insurance companies, other companies and governments. Although the value and amount of unclaimed life insurance benefits due from paid up life insurance policies of deceaseds is not known, life insurance companies are among the largest holders of paid up and dormant life insurance policies unclaimed benefits. There is no state or federal agency or national database or clearinghouse where consumers can go to find out information on unclaimed and unpaid life insurance policies benefits or locate missing or unknown policies.

It is commonly reported by many life insurance companies that represent and claim that they aggressively search for beneficiaries of deceaseds paid up policies unclaimed benefits that are in their possession. Many if not most life insurers indicate that less than only 1% of paid up policies where benefits and moneys are due to beneficiaries go unclaimed. Less than 1% seems like an unreasonably small number and very unlikely in today's world when you consider the speed of everyday life where more things happen in less time, where each year billions of dollars become lost and unclaimed when institutions lose track of deceaseds, beneficiaries and the true owners of money or unclaimed life insurance benefits, where mistakes by the post office scanning machines, misspelled names, businesses and banks bankruptcies, acquisitions and mergers, people and family members lives take so many different directions, twists and turns, marital divorce, couples breakup, job relocations, and changes of address are so frequent, common and lost, that we don't even know the names of our neighbors. On the other hand contrary to many insurers claims and representations, it is reported that insurers expend very little or no effort to find the beneficiaries of the unclaimed policies. It is estimated and reported by knowledgeable sources outside the venue of the inner circles of life insurance companies that upwards of 25-30% of all life insurance policy benefits are never claimed and go unpaid upon the death of insureds because beneficiaries and/or family members don't know that a policy exists, don't bother to do any due any sort of investigation or search or if they suspect that a policy exists, are unable to find the company that is the holder of the policy where benefits are due and unclaimed.

Insurers generally agree that it is up to the beneficiary to notify the insurer of a policy owner's death. That being the case, if it is the responsibility of the beneficiary or interested party to notify the insurer of the deceased policyholder's demise and no one steps forward to notify the insurer of a policy owner's death, contrary to life insurers claims and representations, in many if not most of these particular cases where no one notified the insurer and the insurer didn't know of the policy owner's death , why would "insurers have reason to aggressively search for beneficiaries of unclaimed benefits of deceaseds" if they had no knowledge of the policyholder's death in the first place. In this light life insurance companies representations that less than 1% of deceaseds policies where benefits are due go unclaimed and that they aggressively search for beneficiaries are now suspect and leads the rest of us to believe that the insurers representations in this case at the very least are questionable if not an outright false statement. Also questionable if not potentially an outright false statement, many other insurance companies insist they do not measure how many life insurance policies go unclaimed as it is difficult if not impossible to gauge. They indicate and represent that their companies have no way of knowing that a lapsed policy belongs to a dead person. Insurance companies generally will take steps to find out why a policyholder stopped making payments by sending out letters informing the policyholder that if payments are not made covering the amount of the unpaid premiums, the policy may lapse. If the insured does not respond to the letters, the insurer may make other efforts to locate the insured otherwise the company will classify the status of the policy to lapsed. So how can so many life insurers be correct in representing that less than 1% of deceaseds policy benefits go unclaimed when so many other life insurers indicate that there is no way to know and they have no way of knowing that a policyholder with a paid up policy has deceased and is the reason for the policy being unclaimed.

Nevertheless, if the insurer is unable to find or contact the beneficiaries, the policy benefits due go unclaimed and unpaid. In this case and in general, it is the responsibility of a beneficiary to find the unknown insurer to make a claim for the benefits due from a deceased's life insurance policy that has not been paid. In order to track down the insurance carrier of a deceased's unclaimed life insurance policy and hopefully secure payment for the benefit, it most often becomes necessary for the beneficiary to undertake an investigation which can be extensive, cumbersome and time intensive to find the insurer that holds and is in possession of the deceased's policy and benefits. If a beneficiary believes that a policy existed but does not know the identity of the insurer, the investigation process can start with contacting the major life insurers directly. In addition, it is recommended to look through a deceased's personal papers, address book and telephone numbers for information regarding the existence of insurance policy documents and names of insurance agents. In addition, contact the employee benefits office at all former places of employment and their union offices. Look through the deceased's recent bills going back one year or more looking for any annual or monthly premium notices. Inspect the deceased's financial records, bank statements and tax returns looking for any indication of payments made or dividends that may have been received from an insurance company.

In addition to the amount of the unclaimed policy benefits, beneficiaries may be entitled to much more than the value of the policy as a growing number of mutual life insurance companies have converted from being owned by its policyholders to being a publicly traded stock company owned by shareholders (aka demutualization). The financial benefits continue to accrue after a company demutualizes. In addition to the benefits of the policy, the beneficiary may also be entitled to receive stock, benefit from the growth of an appreciated share price, policy credits, cash payments due from stock dividends, and other benefits in consideration and exchange for their ownership interest in the old mutual insurance company. It is reported that millions of policyholders aren't aware they are entitled to receive compensation worth billions of dollars from the company's demutualization which will go unclaimed as the demutualized insurance companies claim they do not have current mailing addresses for millions of their former mutual policyholders. For example, it is estimated that 95% of union members have a group life insurance policy paid by their employer that has never been claimed. The same may apply if supplemental insurance was purchased through the employer.

Sometimes collecting the benefits due on a missing life insurance policy can be easy and sometimes very difficult. Beneficiaries can usually find a life insurance policy if its within a year after the insured dies and in this case claiming the death benefit from the insurer should be relatively easy. If a few years have passed since the deceased passed away, it becomes more difficult and contacting the state for help is suggested. You first need to determine if the deceased insured had term life (aka insurance only in effect for a period of time i.e. like renting a policy) or whole life (aka permanent i.e. owning a policy) insurance.

If the insured had term insurance, the policy's benefits are only due and paid if the deceased dies during the term the life insurance is in effect and before the end of the term while the policy is still in effect. With term life insurance if the deceased dies after the date the term ends, no benefits are due to be paid.

If the deceased insured had whole life insurance, benefits are due to be paid if the death occurred while the policy was in force meaning that all premium payments were made up until the time of death. If the death had occurred previously some time ago, benefits are due to be paid with interest from the date that the deceased passes away. However, if the insured stopped paying the premiums before they died causing the policy to lapse, there is the possibility that the benefits may not be due and the beneficiary would not be paid. When a whole life policy lapses, in most cases it depends upon the policy and options determined by the insurer. Two such options include converting the lapsed policy to an "extended term" equal to that of applying the cash value earned to date in the policy by buying a short-term life insurance policy which uses up the earned cash value to date or by reducing the amount of the policy death benefit.

If the policy lapses, with the extended term option, if the extended term period payments are used up before the insured dies, the policy becomes worthless and no benefits are due the beneficiary. If the insured dies before the extended-term payments are used up, the beneficiary will receive the value of the extended term death benefit. It is the responsibility of the beneficiary to provide a copy of the insured deceased's death certificate to the insurance company as part of the claim procedure to verify the deceased's death and prove the date of death. There is no time limit during which a beneficiary must claim a paid up whole life benefit.

After several years pass and if no beneficiary claims a deceased's policy death benefit, sometimes depending upon the state and the honesty and ethics of the life insurance company, the money may be transferred to the state government in the state where the policy was purchased. If a company knows an insured died and it cannot find the beneficiary, according to law it must turn the full death benefit over to the state Comptroller's Department within three to five years of the insured's death. The money is transferred to the state where the insured bought the policy. The money is considered "unclaimed property" and gets lumped in with dormant bank accounts and uncollected rent deposits. The comptroller's department maintains a database that lists the names and addresses of lost beneficiaries.

Many states will try to contact beneficiaries in an effort to pay the death benefits. Many states will make an effort to contact beneficiaries in an effort to pay the death benefits or at the least make the information available if not publish relevant information conducive to locating, finding and/or being able to pay out the benefits to beneficiaries. In some states the office of the state Treasurer or Comptroller has a web site where any unclaimed death benefits owed can be found.

Keep in mind your chances of finding the policy with a state are slim. The insurance company generally has no obligation to hand the money over to the state if it's unaware that the insured died. In most cases, it's generally the beneficiary who must contact the insurance company. It is alleged that the insurer transfers the money to the state three to five years after it finds that the insured died and is unable to find the beneficiary. There are good reasons, (whether true or not), if the insurer does not turn the death benefit over to the state and if the question should ever arise as to why not, the insurer can indicate that they didn't know the policyholder had died or are still looking for the beneficiary. Furthermore, as previously indicated and ascertained as extremely questionable, many life insurers represent and claim that they aggressively search for beneficiaries of unclaimed benefits and accordingly indicate turning over life insurance policy benefits to a state after the death of an insured is extremely rare as their investigative procedures generally always locate the beneficiaries and that less than 1 percent of insurers death benefits go unclaimed.

Old unclaimed whole life and fully paid up insurance policies don’t go away. If a company knows that an insured died and cannot find the beneficiary, it must turn the full death benefit over to the state Comptroller's department within three to five years of the death. The money is transferred to the state where the insured bought the policy. The money is considered "unclaimed property" and gets lumped in with dormant bank accounts and uncollected rent deposits. The state Comptroller's Department generally maintains a database that lists the names and addresses of lost beneficiaries. When states receive these death benefits, each state has their own system for the handling of these proceeds. Generally, most if not all of the money is transferred into the state's Treasury general and/or reserve fund and is used to pay for state services. Money is allocated to the Department that handles unclaimed property to pay claims if/when the beneficiaries show up to collect the claim. Many states will try to contact beneficiaries in an effort to pay the death benefits.

There are many life insurance experts that support the position that upwards of 25-30% of paid up policies unclaimed life insurance benefits go unclaimed. In sharp contrast there are many life insurance companies whose positions on this matter indicate that it is extremely rare that death benefits are handed over to the state as they indicate that less than 1% of life insurance company’s death benefits go unclaimed as they generally indicate that their companies are usually able to locate the beneficiaries. Whether it is 1% or 25%-30% of paid up life insurance benefits that go unclaimed that are with insurance companies and supposed to be with and under the safekeeping of the state governments Treasury needs to be thoroughly investigated by trustworthy state and federal enforcement and independent authorities. Regardless of whether its 1% or 25%-30%, these unclaimed benefits need to be in the hands of state government coffers and not with life insurance companies where they could easily get lost, misplaced or unaccounted for. And finally, there needs to be one federal agency source which maintains a national database that works with agencies from each state that also maintain a central source and database for their state.

LIFE INSURANCE - THIS SECTION COMPRISES A SELECTION OF ARTICLES BY FORMER INSURANCE COMMISSIONER HERB DENENBERG THAT LETS YOU KNOW ABOUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES, THE INS AND OUTS, AND REAL WORTH OF LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES.

• 1998-12-01  "How To Save Money On Life Insurance By Buying Term Insurance - Part 1"
• 1998-12-01  "How To Save Money On Life Insurance By Buying Term Insurance - Part 2"
• 1999-02-11  "On Life Insurance - Part 1"
• 1999-02-11  "On Life Insurance - Part 2"
• 1999-12-13  "Deceptive Life Insurance Sales Practices Continue Unabated Despite Phony Reforms"

IT'S MORE CORPORATE CRIME AND CORRUPTION, ONLY NOW IT'S ALSO ANTI-CONSUMERS AND ANTI-AMERICANS. No where can we find a civic duty minded politician with a conscience to do anything to correct the breaches of contract and bad faith insurance situation and to protect Americans from bad faith insurers. Don't politicians run for office with good intentions to influence the system and imprint their civic minds for the good of Americans and their constituents? At least that's what they say when they run for public office. (In light of being further duped, again, we have no choice but to go back to the old adage, "actions speak louder than words"). The media and Wall Street have already exposed some of the extreme measures of corporate crime and corruption ... and there is still continued work to be done ... and these companies exposed for their illegal activities and corruption are not exempt from Federal laws and have very little to hide behind except for their own lies. One cannot but only imagine the level of corporate crime and corruption that exists in the Insurance Industry as Insurers are exempt from federal laws, operate behind an unwritten industry wide code referred to as the "Wall of Silence", a business and legal environment where they have had two hundred years of near free reign to be able to rig and manipulate the system to their favor as they desire, and an extremely high paid never ending resource of defense counsel and corporate lawyers which use the courts to hide behind. All of this and bl